'Openshaw' artificial wooden hand

"Openshaw" wooden carrying hand with a tenon thumb. The index and middle fingers are articulated at the metacarpo-phalangeal and proximal inter-phalangeal joints. The ring and little fingers are rigid and slightly flexed with a steel palmar reinforcement, which extends into the palm. The wrist is oval with a screw fitment for attachment to the prosthetic arm. Made by Anderson & Whitelaw c.1919.

Openshaw wooden artificial hand. Designed by Thomas Openshaw, a surgeon at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, during World War I. A special feature of the hand is that the the ring and little fingers are held rigid, in a slightly flexed position, with steel reinforcement which extends into the palm. This allows bags and other objects to be carried. The thumb, index and middle fingers have a certain degree of articulation. The wrist is oval with a screw fitment for attachment to a prosthetic arm. Made by Anderson & Whitelaw, England c.1919.